One of the leading causes of death in the United States is cancer. The conventional methods of cancer treatment, like chemotherapy, surgery, or radiation therapy, tend to be either highly toxic or nonspecific to a cancer, or both, resulting in limited efficacy and harmful side effects. However, the immune system has the potential to be a powerful, specific tool in fighting cancers. In many cases tumors can specifically express genes whose products are required for inducing or maintaining the malignant state. These proteins may serve as antigen markers for the development and establishment of more specific anti-cancer immune response. The boosting of this specific immune response has the potential to be a powerful anti-cancer treatment that can be more effective than conventional methods of cancer treatment and can have fewer side effects.